‘The Lynx’ Is An Enigma Based On A Mystery Steeped In Comics Nostalgia

It’s often said that art imitates life. Well, here’s an example of art coming to life by imitating art imitating lives based around art.

The fabricator of this exquisite Russian nesting doll is Alex Segura, author of the acclaimed best-selling mystery thriller Secret
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Identity, published earlier this year by Flatiron Books. Segura, who is either an author moonlighting as a comics executive or vice versa, penned a clever roman a clef about the industry in the 1970s, when the mainstream notoriety (and financial success) of all things comics was a far-flung, nearly inconceivable fantasy. Here in the 2020s, inevitably, there is now also a comic – but one with a twist.

Secret Identity specifically centered on a mythical character called the Lynx, created by a pioneering feminist writer named Carmen Valdez, working behind the “beard” of established male hacks, and published by an also-ran imprint called Triumph Comics. Intrigue around the origins of the character (minor spoilers!) proved the impetus for mayhem and murder, as readers of the acclaimed novel eventually discovered.

But wait… (dramatic music!) Was the Lynx real after all? Segura today announced that The Lost Adventures of the Legendary Lynx will soon see the light of day as a four issue collection serialized digitally on the Zestworld platform starting in January, with print publication likely following.

According to the announcement, the series will collect the “first four installments of Triumph Comics’ most beloved hero, the costumed crimefighter known as The Lynx, originally written by Harvey Stern and drawn by enigmatic comics artist Doug Detmer (and Valdez), originally published in 1975.”

The episodes tell the story of mild-mannered newspaper secretary Claudia Calla, who, haunted by the death of her twin sister, assumes the guise of the death-defying avenger The Lxnx to protect the streets of Triumph City, all recounted in Secret Identity. Segura described the stories as “a precursor to many of the comics beloved by fans, like Frank Miller’s film noir Daredevil run, the mind-bending and trippy Moon Knight by Moench and Sienkiewicz, early issues of Spider-Woman and more,” comparisons which evoke a very specific era prized by comics connoisseurs.

The announcement notes with a broad stage wink that these “long lost” issues are “carefully curated” by Segura, and “retouched and remastered” by artist Sandy Jarrell (who illustrated the Lynx pages in Secret Identity) along with Grey Allison, Jack Morelli and Allison M. O’Toole, comic book inker, letterer and editor, respectively.

There is precedent for this kind of hall-of-mirrors approach. Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay presented a fictionalized story set in the world of comics’ “Golden Age” of the 1930s and 40s, where the protagonists’ signature creation was a hero called The Escapist. Chabon eventually masterminded a real-life Escapist comic book published by Dark Horse, purporting to be the original adventures of the character done in full period detail.

Segura has updated Kavalier and Clay’s timeframe to the seedy 70s and added a body count. Now he and his collaborators just have to give us real-life stories that live up to the glorious and notorious reputation he concocted for The Lynx in the novel.